Saturday, March 10, 2018

Finishing Touches To Front TV

Saturday: (03/10) I finished the adaptor pieces and installed the TV onto the drawer frame and then installed it in the RV. I hooked it up and all’s working well. Now to add the printer. I cut the printer shelf and sprayed it. Lou and I stopped by the bank to handle a few things. We were there at rush hour and it took some time. Granola and banana for breakfast. Chili and grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Chili and artichokes for dinner.
 
New TV installed on the new steel drawer frame.

Sunday: (03/11) I worked in the RV installing the printer shelf, and trying out the printer on it. It is really too tight for easy use. It does fit with no front to back clearance and could be used but won’t be easy to use. I’ll be looking at other printer options and at other uses for the space. I made a door to cover the open space below the TV and some trim and sprayed some finish on them. I also installed a door mirror in the bathroom to provide backside view from the vanity mirror. I think the TV cabinet will be finished when I install the door and trim but may have to install a shelf and sides to the drawer if other than the printer is used in the space. Oatmeal with apple for breakfast. A late lunch at Armadillo Willy's BBQ in Sunnyvale.
The new bathroom mirror on the door.

Monday: (03/12) Clear sky in the morning changing to rain in the afternoon. Up early for Lou’s appointment. I dropped her off and on the way home picked up a pulled pork breakfast burrito at A Good Morning Restaurant. Just right shared by Dawn and I. I watched my morning TV shows and napped due to the early rise. I eventually got outside and was organizing the RV getting it ready to roll. I Installed the trim under the TV and found I couldn’t turn the TV on. The trim blocked the IR receiver which was on the bottom edge of the TV. I did a little trimming by cutting a notch and sprayed it then reinstalled it. Lou called about 1145 and I went to pick her up. On the way home I stopped at Orchard Hardware and got a pair of hinges for the door below the TV. I installed the door and now the cabinet will be considered complete. I still need to resolve the cramped printer and possibly add some storage inside but no hurry for that. We had Lou’s artichoke chicken with rice for lunch and dinner.
Finished Front RV TV installation. The LCD Tv replaced a huge vacuum tube TV and provided extra storage behind the new TV.

Tuesday: (03/13) Rainy. I cleaned up all my stuff in the RV and did some vacuuming and cleaning. Tinkered with the computer collecting tax info. Otherwise relaxed inside, out of the rain. Granola for breakfast. Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Lou’s spaghetti for dinner.

Wednesday: (03/14) Rainy. I did our grocery shopping in the morning. I worked on our tax return in the afternoon. The tax app crashed so tomorrow I get to start again. Granola for breakfast. Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Artichoke chicken over rice for dinner. Pupin pie for Pie Day dessert.

Thursday: (03/15) Rainy. I worked on income tax preparation all day. I finished the first draft of our return. Granola and diced apple for breakfast. Pumpkin pie for lunch. Dinner at Chili’s Restaurant. After dinner, Lou felt ill so we went to Santa Clara.

Friday: (03/16) Rainy. Up early. Dawn and I shared a breakfast burrito from A Good Morning on our way to see Lou. We spent today with Lou in Santa Clara. Dawn and I had lunch from the Farmers Market, some really nice egg rolls. We all returned home about 1500. Leftover Chili’s items for dinner.

Saturday: (03/17) A rainy day. I spent the day relaxing and trying to catch up on sleep. PBJ toast for breakfast. Lou made corned beef and cabbage for dinner.

Sunday: (03/18) Lou made scrambled eggs with pico de gallo for breakfast. We drove over to Stockton to a shoe store that handles the shoes Dawn needs. Our local store closed. We stopped for lunch at Xochimilco Cafe in downtown Stockton then visited the shoe store. We also stopped at a few thrift stores before heading back toward home. We made this trip today because it was the first day of little rain for a while. Traffic was heavy. We made it home a little after 1900. I prepared grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

Monday: (03/19) Up early to deliver the Jeep to Yeaman Auto Body to get the damage repaired. It should be back home this Friday. Ernie brought me back home. After PBJ toast for breakfast, I drove Lou to Kaiser for an appointment. We did some grocery shopping on the way home. Lou made beef stroganoff potatoes for lunch. I had a dentist appointment at 1500. On the way home our tenant in San Jose called to say the toilet was stopped up. The plunger didn’t free it up. I agreed to come down but had to return home in Palo Alto first to pick up my tools. It was rush hour it took me a while to get there and I stopped for some egg rolls for dinner on the way. I got here about 1745. I tried out Dawn’s toilet a few times and it wasn’t stopped up. I then tried their toilet and it was clogged. I tried my super duper plunger and it wouldn’t clear it. I checked in the basement and there was only four ft of drain line that could be clogged but no cleanout. I removed the toilet and ran a snake through the drain pipe, no plug. So, evidently the toilet itself. I couldn’t get the snake through it either direction. I decided to just replace it. Thewas toilet has been a pain for a while with numerous problems and never flushed correctly anyway. I dashed off to Orchard Hardware to get a new toilet and returned. Not really a one person job to lift it but I managed. It took a while to get it in and when don it flushed extremely well. Better than ever. I did have a little leak at the bottom of the tank but need to remove it to fix it so not tonight. I’ll return with a wet vacuum tomorrow. They finally had a working toilet at 2200. I cleaned up my stuff and loaded the old toilet in the car. I also brought home a big four wheeled cart. And my final task was to remove all my tools from the apartment. I got home about 2300 and unloaded to the car. Really nice to get a good shower and get to bed.

Tuesday: (03/20) We all went down to San Jose early. I stopped on the way and bought some caulk for the toilet project. Breakfast burritos from La Victoria Taqueria. I love their orange sauce. Dawn had an appointment in the morning. Dawn and Lou were busy cleaning the apartment. Lou and I were off to visit Kaiser again. Later I got access to the new toilet and tightened the tank to eliminate a leak. The problem was that I followed the directions. Usually a bad idea. I had to lift it off the base, tighten a couple of nuts and reattach it. Easy to do because I had my wet vacuum this time. We had lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory in San Jose. It didn’t agree with Lou so we dashed home. About 1630 I returned to San Jose on the bus and put some things inside that were moved outside the other day. The ride was nicer that anther commute in rush hour traffic, in the rain. I walked about five miles toward home through downtown San Jose and out the Alameda before catching the return bus. My dinner was a peanut butter cookie from a Mexican bakery downtown and some yogurt and a leftover grilled cheese sandwich. Home about 2030.

Wednesday: (03/21) Occasional rain in the morning drying out in the afternoon. Granola and diced apple for breakfast. I was off to an early dentist appointment in Cupertino. I got a new crown started. I picked up some dim sum for lunch on the way home. So nice that the newer pain killers they use don’t leave your entire face numb for hours after the appointment. In the afternoon I took Lou to an appointment. Back at home I cleaned my tools and disposed of the old toilet by breaking it up and putting into the garbage. I also disassembled the solid oak table I bought a few days ago. Should make some nice things when reused. Leftover stroganoff over bread for dinner. I also baked some cauliflower pieces for dinner.

Thursday: (03/22) I made a shopping run in the afternoon. I bought another toilet to replace one of ours here. I also did some grocery shopping. Lou made some peanut butter cookies. I made corned beef hash for breakfast. Yogurt for lunch. Pot roast beef for dinner.

Friday: (03/23) Dawn and I took Lou to an appointment in Santa Clara in the morning. Dawn visited a bookstore while I did a little car shopping. Lou wants to get rid of our little Hyundai Accent and get something bigger with a better ride. She’d like a Subaru Forester. I’d like a Subaru Outback. Neither cheap. I did find something I like at Enterprise Car Sales, a 2017 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk. I’ll have to get Lou to take a ride to see if it provides a smooth enough ride. At home in the afternoon, I replaced the toilet in our main bathroom. The primary reason is just to have an easier to operate flush handle and low water usage that still flushes completely on one flush. It’s the same model I installed in San Jose. And related to that, in the evening when we went to meet Lou, the tenant called to say there was a leak in the new toilet? Darn. Peach pie for breakfast. Egg rolls for early lunch from the Farmers Market. Early dinner from China Bistro in Mountain View.

Saturday: (03/24) We headed down to San Jose and parked at the house. I went inside to look at the leaking toilet. It was leaking. While there, the tenant pointed out a leak in the shower door and some missing grout around the kitchen sink. Dawn and I joined the March For Life rally in San Jose. A nice big crowd led by the students. The best sign seemed to be “When Leaders Act Like Children, Children Act Like Leaders”. And so it was! We had a large crowd even though we had rain, including a period of deluge. After the march, Dawn and I visited La Victoria Taqueria for a burrito lunch. Then we stopped at a Mexican bakery nearby for some dessert cookies. Back at the house I went to Orchard Hardware and bought the part I needed to fix the toilet. Since I couldn’t see anything wrong with the toilet as to why the tank leaked I bought a new bolt kit that included thicker tighter washers. I installed them and made them nice and tight. No leaks, and now hoping they stay that way. I then cleaned up some of the caulk around the shower door and replaced it. No action on the sink because I need to find tan caulk and it seems to be rare. After a little clean up we went to meet Lou and visit a while before heading home. Leftover corned beef hash for breakfast. A shared burrito to lunch. Roast beef sandwiches for dinner.

Sunday: (03/25) I made breakfast sandwiches with the leftover corned beef, eggs, and cheese. Nice! Yesterday I received some new safety cables for the RV toad connection. One of the EZconnect ends had been ground off when it dragged on the pavement. Dawn and I met Lou in Santa Clara around noon and had lunch with her. I spent some time in the afternoon looking for a Hyundai replacement. I found out the Hyundai isn’t worth much and Subaru are expensive even when well used. Further learned that they can’t be flat towed with either manual or automatic transmissions. So, looks like we may be looking at another Jeep. hopefully slightly used and cheap. Luckily, both Enterprise and Avis sell 2016-2017 used Jeep Renegade Trailhawks and a good price. They can be towed like our Cherokee. We need to confirm they provide a smooth ride for Lou. Leftovers for dinner. In the evening we met with Lou again

Monday: (03/26) I cleaned out the cooler in preparation for the coming hot weather. Dawn and I stopped for breakfast at the Country Inn in Cupertino then went to meet Lou. I called about noon to see if the Jeep was ready, and it was so I went off to pick it up. Ernie dropped me off at the shop. I picked up the Jeep then returned to Dawn and Lou in Santa Clara. We all came home and enjoyed a nap. Leftovers for dinner. Nice to have the Jeep back.

Tuesday: (03/27) Lou and I went grocery shopping first thing in the morning. Back at home, I made some chorizo scrambled eggs for breakfast. A little plant moving later. I returned the hanging plants to the arbor from the greenhouse. Steamed artichokes for lunch. Lou and Dawn were off to a lecture at the Jewish Community Center in the evening. I had dinner at China Bistro.

Wednesday: (03/28) Granola and banana for breakfast. I attended a webinar at 1000. A little before noon I headed off on a walk heading North on El Camino Real. I walked up to Menlo Park. I had some fish tacos at Rubio’s Mexican restaurant. I then caught a bus up to Redwood City where I walked out toward the bay then back to El Camino Real. I caught a bus back California Avenue. I had walked 9.6 miles before I got on the bus and wanted to walk 10 miles so I got off early. The total walk today about 10.5 miles. I had a chili size for dinner and repotted some plants.

Thursday: (03/29) Leftover chorizo and eggs for breakfast. My temporary crown broke last night so I called the dentist’s office to see if they could look at it. Lou and Dawn were already going to their office at 1000 today, I got an appointment for 0915. We all headed over early. Fortunately, my permanent crown had arrived. So it was installed a week early. I also got a filling installed. Both were scheduled for next week. Lou and Dawn had a cleaning and Dawn got a filling. We were all complete by 1100. We stopped by a Walmart Neighborhood market for some things. Lunch at Harry’s Hofbrau. I tinkered at home vacuuming the cars and putting things away. My new FI phone arrived so I started sitting it up. I chose to just transfer my Google Voice number to the FI phone. The data portion started working right away, the phone will take longer. Lou and I went out to a movie in the evening. We saw Red Sparrow, an interesting spy movie. A nice walk after the movie. A late ham and cheese sandwich for dinner.

Friday: (03/30) I made ham and eggs for breakfast which we enjoyed in the yard. I did some gardening and also plucked the weeds from between the bricks on the patio. We made a little shopping run around noon. We visited the Los Altos nursery and got some tomato plants for the garden. Dawn visited the Mountain View Library, while Lou picked up her lunch at Hong Kong bakery. Dim sum for lunch from Dim Sum King in Sunnyvale. Lou and Dawn got some things from the Indian market next door. Dawn was busy working in the garden. Split pea soup for dinner. Dawn and I took a walk around the neighborhood after dinner.
The backyard in spring.

Saturday: (03/31) Ham and eggs again for breakfast. I was confused all day thinking it was April 1st. I worked in the yard on the sprinklers and other cleanup.Lou’s split pea soup for lunch. Dawn made stew for dinner.

Sunday: (04/01) Granola and banana for breakfast. It was a normal Sunday Morning watching the Political TV shows to start. We all spent some time working in the yard. I did some potting and also removed some old rubber bark from the unused portion of our garden spot. Dawn has plans to grow more this year. I received the memory card and case for my new phone but the screen protection sheets were incorrect. Hopefully, the proper ones are now on the way. Lou made hamburger salads for lunch. We went to Sweet Tomatoes Buffet for dinner.

Monday: (04/02) Granola and banana for breakfast. We were off early to an appointment in Mountain View. Also visited the library for some seeds from the seed library. Then on to San Jose where I replaced some caulk on the kitchen sink. Then over to the House Of Pizza for lunch. They make the best pizza around. Then more shopping on the way home. Leftover pizza for dinner. My new Google phone became active today. It may have been active for days. It started working when I turned off the call forwarding that moved over with the phone number from Google Voice and I finally got the proper recording. When I got home I had a voice message waiting.


Friday, March 9, 2018

San Francisco Walk-about

Friday: (03/09) Off early for the train. Lou dropped me off at the station and I caught the 0717 train to San Francisco. I usually have no real plan for these walk-abouts. I walked uptown on Fourth Street then through Chinatown on Green Street. I stopped at AA Bakery for a nice bacon onion bun for breakfast. I continued out Columbus and on through Fort Mason by the cliff trail and through the Marina to Fort Point under Golden Gate Bridge. I hiked up and out the trail West of the bridge about a ¼ mile before turning back. The fog was really bad out that way. I caught a bus back to Chestnut Street where I had lunch at Los Hermanos, a nice chili relleno plate. I then caught a bus to Market Street and walked around downtown toward the Embarcadero. I watched some construction projects on some new tall buildings and looked at the Leaning Tower of San Francisco, The Millenium Building. I then caught the N Line back to the train station and back home by 1800. Lou made chili for dinner.


 
 Chinatown street nearly vacant so early in the morning. An interesting way to trim a tree stump on Columbus Street.

 
Fort Mason Views, GG Bridge in distance on left, Alcatraz on right.

Tide Pools below the cliff at Fort Mason.

 
Nice flowering bush by marina and a view of the GG Bridge from Crissy Field.

 
Fort Point on left and surfers below the GG bridge on right.

Dinner at Los Hermanos on Chestnt Street.

Saturday, March 3, 2018

RV TV Cabinet Installation

Saturday: (03/03) I reported the accident to our insurance folks. Outside, between showers, I cut out most of the pieces for the new TV/printer cabinet for the front of the RV. Leftover potatoes and pork for breakfast. Leftover enchiladas for lunch. Roasted peppers soup for dinner.

Monday: (03/05) I went with Lou to an appointment in the morning. Dawn was off on the bus to Redwood City. When we got home, I got busy installing the RV TV cabinet. Surprisingly, all the pieces fit as expected. After it was installed, I made a run for some hardware and lunch. Lou made strawberry waffles for breakfast. I had a late lunch of dim sum (pork footballs and an egg tart.) Dawn made macaroni and cheese for dinner.
 

 
The TV Cabinet Wall Installation above.

The walls hung out to dry.

Tuesday: (03/06) Nice day but cool and some occasional clouds. We went to Baji’s Cafe for breakfast. Then off to Orchard Hardware to get a few things and return other things. We then scouted a parking place for the RV in Santa Clara. At home, I got busy on the TV cabinet. I got the drawer runners installed. Next thing is to build the drawer itself. I got interrupted for much of the afternoon. Later, I did open the TV box and setup the TV. That prompted me to order a VESA 200x100 adaptor plate to mount it. The smaller TV was 100x100. For dinner, leftovers.

Wednesday: (03/07) I worked on cutting and welding up the TV drawer frame. It’s hanging from the apricot tree drying the paint tonight. Chocolate cake and ice cream for lunch. Tomorrow I’ll try to fit it in. Lou baked open-faced egg and wiener toast for breakfast. Chicken with rice and spinach for dinner.

Thursday: (03/08) The insurance adjuster came by about 1000 to look at the damage to the Jeep. I then took the paperwork over to Yeamen’s Auto Body and scheduled the repair starting on 03/19. I also visited Orchard Hardware to pick up some bolts. I picked up lunch to go at Los Altos Taqueria on the way home. Lou and Dawn were out shopping at Costco in the morning. I installed the drawer frame in the cabinet and worked at fitting the TV onto it. That prompted a little design change. I decided to mount the TV 4 inches higher at the top of the cabinet opening. It didn’t fit well at the bottom. The drawer runners prevented the TV from going far enough into the cabinet. This necessitated another run to Orchard Hardware for a piece of steel to adapt the mounting plate. At home, I cut and painted the metal for the adapter. Lou made spaghetti for dinner. Granola and banana for breakfast. Chili Relleno for lunch. Spaghetti for dinner. Tomorrow a day off.
 

 
The RV TV Drawer frame fitted into the cabinet. On the right above is an interesting succulent down the street.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Annual Accident In The Jeep

Friday: (03/02) Granola and banana for breakfast. We were off for an appointment for Lou. Dawn inspected a bookstore and I went down to San Jose and checked the sump pump. It was raining nicely today so there was water to pump, and it did. I also labeled the outlet cover in an attempt to keep the pump plugged in. I then went to our credit union, which only has branches in San Jose, to complete some forms related to changing our main bank. I then stopped by Lowes and bought some hardware and oak molding. My final task was a little shopping at a Walmart Neighborhood Market. I then stopped back at the bookstore and waited for a call from Lou. After picking her up we went to lunch at Bill’s Cafe in Santa Clara. On the way home, a lady scraped the side of our Jeep. She was trying to slip into the left turn lane and didn’t fit. I dropped Lou and Dawn off at home and then went to Yeamen’s Auto Body to get an estimate of $1650 to remove the ¼” deep two-foot long crease and have it painted. This is the third year in a row having our jeep in a collision just as we plan to leave on our extended trip. So we’ve delayed departure for more than just my needing to finish the TV cabinet in the RV. Leftovers for dinner.
 
Our sadly damaged Togger The Jeep on the left above. The escaping culprit on the right above.
Only a quarter-sized scratch on the other car.